Week Twelve - New World Record

Week TWELVE.

The response I had last week both in sponsorship and support was amazing. Friends, family, even randomers have all been so nice - my favourite moment of the week was when I returned to my desk at work one day and one of the facilities management people were standing right next to the pillar that I have my posters up on. He looked at me, realised it was my silly face on the posters and said 'It's you! I love this!" pointing at the posters. 

The sponsorship is edging close to the big five oh oh and there is still four weeks to go - thank you everyone who has sponsored so far.

In other news, I now know my number for the day, it's a catchy one...! NINE FOUR EIGHT SEVEN! Pretty determinedly making up some chants for this as we speak, obviously.

Run #34 - Monday 20th March

I'm relatively surprised at the level of recovery my legs are churning out at the moment. With doing the long run on Saturday, I didn't have to run until Tuesday, but a combination of a nice spring evening and feeling relatively fresh meant I decided to go out on Monday. 

I had a genuinely nice run cruising at well over nine minute miles and enjoying the sun setting. The first run of the week is getting gradually slower as the big weekend effort gets longer, and it was refreshing to get out. 

The one slight issue that reared its head once again is the return of those shitty little flies that come out when it is a bit warmer. In my eyes, in my mouth, on my face. 

SOD OFF.

Run #35 - Thursday 23rd March

Another week, another single member Run Club. Admittedly, I am becoming quite the diva in terms of when Run Club actually is. Soz. I've taken a liking to getting the monster run out the way on Saturday morning so that I'm not living in fear all weekend, which means Thursday is the day. 

(Never mind the fact that there are a few gins to be consumed tonight making the prospects of Friday Run Club pretttttty bleak).

Anyway, as I drove in the weather was horrendous. Very cold and very wet. Thankfully, the rain stopped and it turned in to quite a nice morning - especially the section through the University campus. 

I made a bold decision during the fifth mile of the run. Bad Romance is a top five pop song of all time. It is absolutely huge. It's true. I listened to it twice to be sure. 

BANGER.

I also worked out that I only have 100 miles to go until D-Day, 40 of which are in two runs. Sooo... it's starting to feel like the last big push.

Which is EXCITING.

Run #36 - Saturday 25th March

Nine months ago I ran 17 miles as I prepared for the Berlin Marathon. Unfortunately due to my naive and haphazard training plan, my body couldn't take it and it caused the injury that put me on the sofa for four months.  Until today, it remained the longest distance I have ever run.

Until today.

Today I ran NINETEEN MILES.

Whilst the plan said to run 18, I was spooked that next week I have to run 22. So running 19 this week makes that a little less daunting. I also learnt lessons from the misery 17 miles of nine months ago. That time I took no water and ran a pretty brutal, hilly route. I was in a BAD way by the end.

This time I took 2x energy packs for 6 and 13 miles, and dropped bottles of water off at similar distances beforehand. 

I also welcomed running hero Julie to Run Club to keep me company for the first hour. 

The weather was stunning for once and the first hour flew by. The second hour was ok, boosted significantly by having the energy packs and water. I asked my sisters to meet me around 16 miles so that was the next thing to aim for.

Last week we managed to raise £300 in 48 hours following the silly video that we did, so it made sense to do another one! 

The frustrating thing is I spent most of the second hour thinking of funny things to say... but after 16 miles your mind doesn't work as well and you certainly don't remember much. But thank you to both my sisters for coming out for this, it gave me a huge boost.

Going beyond the 17 mile mark was a big moment in this whole thing. That number has been a bit of a mental block for a long time so to get beyond it (and by two miles!) is huge. Dare I say it, I could have gone on beyond 19 as well - once you hurt that much you might as well just carry on which is good to know before the real thing. That said, I've still not hit the wall...

Somehow the pace remained around the 8.30 mark. The last five miles felt like I was barely moving but it seemed to do the job. It bodes well for the last seven miles in London (I hope!).

Four weeks to go, one big run to go and we are nearly there. Thank you to all the continued support, it means a lot!

Week Eleven - Live From The Campaign Trail

As this whole thing edges closer (five weeks GULP), I become more and more humbled by the support and kindness from the people in my life, be it someone close or someone I bump in to randomly.

When I began writing about it I knew there was a fine line between being interesting, engaging and bringing people along on the journey... and being a complete narcissistic bore. I think (hope!) I have got the balance about right - if you are bored, I am sorry, you only have five weeks left to endure!

(That said, I'm going to ramp things right up so you might as well just unfriend me now on the various social platforms we're currently pals on.)

This week marks the big psychological barrier of 'being-less-than-the-six-weeks-holiday' rationalisation of time. It's coming and it is coming fast. In the early hours of Wednesday morning I woke up, not from the usual nagging hip (cry me a river), but from a restless dream where I was convinced I couldn't do it. Not cool.

My mind is now edging towards 'pretty bloody scared' on the 'Oh God' pre-marathon scale.

In other news, I promised myself a few weeks ago that once I got Silverstone out the way I'd go see the physio and get a massage on my legs... to freshen things up for the last push. 

GOOD LORD.

Agony.

My calves were the worst. It was absolutely brutal. But hopefully it will do them good going forward.

Run #30 - Tuesday 14th March

Spent most of the last 24 hours limping around, not from the 200-odd miles I've churned out so far this year... no, no. From the brutal working over they had yesterday. 

So been stretching loads. Here's me and Molly doing some stretching.

Standard Tuesday run really, five miles at nines. Had an absolute rave on the playlist though. Shake It Off made a long awaited comeback.

Huge.

Run #31 - Thursday 16th March

First things first - apologies to the people I throw off kilter by moving Run Club to Thursday (four people messaged to say their day started in complete disarray) but I gots important suiting up for a Christening to do on Sunday. So long run Saturday, Run Club run Thursday.

For the first time in probably six or seven weeks Run Club was a singular affair. It's ok though, the excuses were somewhat reasonable from my brederen, but still... B- on the commitment scale.

I nearly changed up the route, but then I bottled it with the fear of getting lost and being in the showers at prime time 7.45 with all the finance bores. It was also a bleak grey morning. If it was Wednesday morning I might have chased the sun rise because it was beautiful then, but the standard route had to do.

Another 7.27 miles on to the totaliser and another hour in the legs. 

Run #32 - Saturday 18th March

A second stab at 16 miles before the realllllly big two training runs that are left (18 and 22) and by and large it was ok.

Regular readers of the blog will remember the close encounter I had with a goose a few weeks back. Thankfully I have steered well clear of those angry, flappy bastards since, however this morning I had a whole new situation to deal with.

It appears that gypsies have taken over Hilton with their caravans and their generators and four hundred children. They have parked all over the path and made it thoroughly difficult to get past for the casual passerby. Now, as I am an intrepid adventurer I was not put off and weaved in between the obstacles, through the mud, etc. Then a gypsy man came out of his house just as I was giving it my dirtiest, most withering look. I had my headphones on and I am no expert lip reader but I made out the following...

'WOT?'

Erm, you've parked in the way mate. 

Fortunately a confrontation was avoided by the fact I was, yanno, running. But still, a minor highlight of the first half of today's lol-athon.

As you know, I am at the forefront of the marketing world (lol) and my #BQneedsYOU campaign is well underway. The next stage of my marketing #offensive is the following...

***LIVE FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL***

Huge thank you to my sister Sophie for humouring me and running along filming this, what lolzzz we had. I think I spent about half of the run giggling to myself about this, both before and after it, so that helped while away the time.

The run was ok by and large, I definitely felt more comfortable than the 16 miler the other week. The target pace was absolutely bossed which is good and it was only a torrential downpour for five miles this week, soooo we're all winners really.

When the rain did come (and it was big bastard drops too FYI), I was in need of a banger to boost my spirits. And at 13 miles the BANGER GODS delivered.

Rest assured, 500 Days of Summer dancing was included.

I came in at roughly 45 seconds faster than the 16 miler the other week which is umm... interesting? 

You might not believe it but the video we did on the run wasn't just for fun and lols - I put it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram yesterday and I have been absolutely amazed by the response...

... £250 sponsored in a day and a half. 

Genuinely, wow.

Thank you all so, so much. I say it all the time but it means an awful lot to me and even more to Cancer Research. 16 miles, 18 miles, 26 miles, whatever. It's nothing really. In the grander scheme of things it is nothing. But I am very proud and hugely motivated to run for an such an amazing cause and for the people I know that have been affected by such a terrible disease.

We will DO IT.

I am plastering the link everywhere (soz) but here it is if you would like to donate. Thank you!

Five weeks to go. Next up is EIGHTEEN MILES.

Week Ten - Getting Serious

Week ten klaxonnnnn.

I'm aware I have said this before, but it's getting serious now kids!

So much so that the BQ NEEDS YOU marketing campaign has begun. Phase one consists of plastering my face around work (my favourite one is right above the microwave so everyone warming up their lunch has my face right in front of them, ha), whilst phase two is likely to be a cake sale the week before the marathon itself. I am in talks with the very best bakers at work to get them involved and spare the masses from rows and rows of my banana cake.

Such a persuasive marketing message has already bared fruit and, as ever, I hugely appreciate all the support I am getting. It would be a million times harder without you. Trust me.

The page can be found here or just search 'BQ Run Club' on Just Giving - YOU DA BEST!

Run #27 - Tuesday 7th March

Relatively speaking, after the 16 miler on Sunday, my body has felt pretty good. A bit slow getting up and about but what's new? I had a day off yesterday nominally on puppy watch, but it was nice to lie down most of the day (watched Titanic - what a film, btw) and eat chocolate. It turns out those chocolate digestives balls are like crack once you've opened the bag.  

Once I had spent about an hour stretching my legs in to something remotely capable of anything resembling running I went out for a very steady, nine mile, daylight drenched five miler.

All good.

Run #28 - Friday 10th March 

Talking of daylight drenched, look how light it was at 6.33am this morning! Pow. Hello spring. Today was an important edition of Run Club as it brought up the 200 miles for the year. Hence the peace signs in the photo. I'm all for peace too, obvs, but this was all about the big two-oh-oh. 

The run itself was fine, a nice hour warm up for Silverstone on Sunday at a tick over seven miles. Not much more to say on this really, other than the fact I had scrambled eggs and a fried egg on toast for breakfast after this - if you think this is 'strange' or 'wrong', I am afraid it is you who is missing out #doubleeggsyaaaaassssss

Run #29 - Sunday 12th March (Silverstone Half Marathon)

So today was my first Half Marathon since June last year and eighth overall which is all a bit mad when you consider I was a right fatty who didn't move quickly anywhere three or four years ago.

Today was very much a 'dry run' for London - the distance is three miles less than I ran last week so it was more about running at the target 8.30 per mile, getting used to consuming more fluids as well as the gel packs. I have been hitting the distance at around 1hr 53 over the last few weeks so I knew what sort of time I was looking at. 

In terms of the key parts of the 'dry run', I had a bit of a mare. For some inexplicable reason my watch decided for the *first time ever* to flick in to kilometres rather than miles. 

YOU WHAT?

WHY? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?

No idea. But I rely quite heavily on the watch to keep around the 8.30's so this was a problem. I am not good at maths, this is a well known fact, so trying to convert it to kilometre's was completely out of the question. Turns out finding the setting to change it to miles is ridiculously tricky. Especially when running in the middle of hundreds of people. By the one mile marker I had worked it out. 

Cheers Garmin.

Secondly, I massively ballsed up on the playlist. I made a new, updated version last night - happily updated my phone but didn't select it on Run Keeper. Idiot. I'd always check this normally so no idea why I didn't. Good job the original playlist was there still and 100% bangers.

But still - good things to remember on the actual day. Check the watch. Check the playlist. Don't be a knobhead.

Great to bump in to avid reader of the blog and old Uni housemate Chris just before the race. Welcomed him in to Run Club, gave him his membership card and everything.

I reckon our five-a-side team circa 2008-10 would be a lot better for the increased level of fitness the two star men of the team now have.

The course was weird. The time spent on the actual track was probably about six miles and pretty good, the rest was d-u-l-l weaving in and out of the centre of the course and out back behind the grandstands. 

There was a lot of standing water on the track which would definitely have called for intermediates, whilst the rain didn't really stop until mile nine or ten. But it was fine and would you believe it... a 1hr 53, so great work on the pace and something that I will continue to work on in the next few weeks. 

Whilst it's never nice to see people struggling near the end and walking it is a good boost to me to be able to glide past them and feel pretty good still. I know I will hit the wall, and hit it hard - but it won't be at 13 miles. 

I spent the last mile or two fuming at the knobheads who did have to walk (completely fair enough), but WHY DO YOU INSIST ON WALKING ON THE RACING LINE? Get out the way you dweebs.

*Rant over*

This week's 'absolute-banger-when-I-really-needed-a-boost' is this at about nine miles, somewhere off behind the grandstand in the puddles.

HEY!

I had a great drive back where I took on my energy supplements...

... and began to start thinking about the next three big runs. 

Sixteen.

Eighteen.

Twenty Two.

It's getting really, really serious now.

Week Nine - Big Puddles

Those great, schadenfreude loving guys and girls at London Marathon HQ dropped this bomb on Friday.

Oh good.

Week nine marks the end of CHUNK TWO as the training focuses on the cranking up of the longer Sunday run.

As the mileage has gone up over the weeks, the average pace has gone up too - thank goodness. It's a bit mad to look at some of those distances. Not only because they are genuinely quite big distances, but it reinforces how much further I've got to go.

Anyway, since the 14 miler on Saturday in week eight I've been aware of a little twinge in the danger zone of my knee. I don't think it is anything more than my mind on overdrive thankfully - just got to remember it is ok and perfectly normal to be a bit sore and stiff after nearly two hours of repetitive impact on the roads, and that wear and tear is a thing too.

(Shut up. You're fine!)

After last week I am determined to steer clear of any potentially angry flappy birds, so no canal routes this week please and thanks.

Apologies in advance for the gradual increase in shameless plugging for sponsorship (wait till you see the posters...) but the wheels are in motion now and with 18 and 22 milers on the horizon I need all the help I can get.

Still no big rush, but the page can be found here or just search 'BQ Run Club' on Just Giving if you are so inclined!

(Thank you!)

Run #24 - Tuesday 28th February

SLOWWWW. 

No alarm bells with the knee which is a result. Impressed at managing to go slower than I did last week at 9.07's for 5 miles. Drifting along.

(No geese).

Run #25 - Friday 3rd March

At one point this week Run Club was going to be four people strong. Then I received a sick note and a no-can-do text, leaving me and Kev to stay strong for Run Club and all its fans. 

Thankfully there was no Doris making life hard this morning and within a mile or two it was pretty much fully light. Again, thankfully, now that we chat our way round there is no ludicrous pace going off. Steady 8.22 min/miles for an hour to bring home a tick over seven miles to add to the totaliser.

As a slight aside, the showers were even more weird than normal. Why are people having ten minute conversations in the shower? It's always awkward, but when the only spare shower is the middle of the three and they continue the conversation over me... IT'S WEIRD.

For want of a better phrase, get in and get out as quickly as possible.

Run #26 - Sunday 5th March

Today is a biggun. And the weather is nothing short of a joke. 

After 14 miles last week, a further two miles were required today. SIXTEEN MILES. Gah, it's a long bloody way. I had a great curry last night though, which I am pretty sure is the best meal to have before running this far.

Same route, more or less, as last week just with the added fun of two more miles. The first eight or so miles drifted by without any dramas with the pace coming down from 8.52 to about 8.30 which is all good. Mentally, the step up to 16 was tough. To have to run for seventy minutes before it's even half way is a hard, so it was very much a case of trying not to think about the distance and just settle in as best as possible.

I had a slightly different reaction to consuming the energy gel at about 10 miles than I did last week. Now if you don't know what 'adverse reactions' these sort of supplements can have, well... I'm sure you can hazard a guess. Let's say I was pretty worried for five minutes or so but things thankfully settled down relatively quickly and it did it's job. Definitely good to get the body used to it now rather than having big problems in London.

Once I got past the half marathon distance it suddenly felt like I was going very slowly even though I wasn't. The legs were heavy, and the mind was heavier still but I got to the big one six in 2hrs 17 at 8.34's which I am very happy with. It's the second longest distance I have ever ran and, unsurprisingly, right up there in terms of the hardest too.

Oh, and shout out to the three knobheads who drove through huuuuge puddles as they passed me. You da best, lads.

This weeks very-timely-BANGER was this just before the 15 mile marker. About the same time that Dad passed by on his way to pick me up. Celebrations ensued. 

Silverstone half marathon next week, 48 days to go.